A HISTORY OF THE HAYEKIAN TRIANGLE

This paper invites reflection on the nature and role of visual illustration in economics, through a historical account of the “Hayekian triangle,” a graphical representation devised by Friedrich A. Hayek to depict the structure of production and introduced in his 1931 book Prices and Production . Tracing its origins back to Hayek’s earlier “schemes” in 1929, the paper then examines the triangle’s evolution and its applications in visualizing economic phenomena such as capital accumulation and business cycles. The paper also highlights key developments by contemporaries and successors, such as Evan F. M. Durbin, Murray N. Rothbard, and Roger W. Garrison, as well as more recent formalizations that integrate mathematical precision.